Vietnam siebzehn Jahre nach der Wiedervereinigung: Wunsch und Wirklichkeit

Abstract Seventeen years after reunification in 1975 unity is generally accepted in Vietnam. The government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Communist party went to a lot of trouble to realise a policy of comprehensive and far-reaching renewal of socio-economic life (doi moi). In the last few years there has been visible progress in production as well as in the transformation of socio-economic structures and in the material life of the people. After the Sixth Party Congress in 1986 various reform policy decrees were issued and the economy entered a phase of change. Production in agriculture, handicrafts and industry is rising, the food shortage is disappearing. Today Vietnam is one of the largest exporters of rice, and consumer goods are on display in the stores. But on the other hand the political and economic process is full of difficulties and contradictions. There are many questions to answer: the relationship between a centrally planned economy and a market economy; rising production, but a rising number of unemployed, too. And the main question: how will the Communist party of Vietnam achieve its aim given at the Seventh Party Congress: "Reality has shown that renewal is a profound revolution in all spheres of social life ... If only one certain aspect or link is renewed, the renewal cause cannot achieve the desired results."